Woodward and Bush (Part 2)

Part II of the WaPost serialization of Bob Woodward's new book is out today. Fascinating stuff, especially the inner machinations of the Joint Chiefs. It is obvious that Pete Pace simply ran out of steam at some point, as we saw in the summer of 2007 when he was replaced by Mike Mullen.

A couple of things to think about.

One of the beauties of this republic is civilian control of the military, and this series is showing just how beautiful that concept is (just as LBJ's target selection meetings showed how faulty it can also be). George Bush has assiduously avoided meddling in "the situation on the ground". He relied on the advice and counsel of his senior DOD and military advisers, he gave them what they asked for, and they made a mess of it. We hired him to lead, and so he did. He sought other opinions, asked probing questions...but more than anything else, he refused to lose. Professor Eliot Cohen has a great book called "Supreme Command" in which he details the relationships between Commanders in Chief and their subordinate military leaders. He concludes (among other things) that war is too important to be left solely to the generals (and admirals). Clausewitz had it right...war is a continuation of policy (politics). It is an inherently political act.

So when the Joint Chiefs got their panties in an uproar about "surging" and "breaking the force", because it was going to use up the "strategic reserve", the President made a political decision: that the use of the strategic reserve was called for in a situation in which we were about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Chiefs just never got this...they never understood the political dimension of losing in Iraq. Why did it have to take the President pointing out the chaos in a capital undercuts ANY real sense of progress elsewhere?

I'm also glad that it this book (again, a first draft of history), shows that there WAS disagreement between the JCS and the President, and that that disagreement was aired. The Chiefs didn't just sit in their offices and grouse. They disagreed with the President, and they told him so. Any public view of these guys as sycophants should be undercut by these revelations. Their job is to make their reservations known, to as articulately and forcefully advocate for their positions as they can, and then salute the flag and carry out the mission they are given. That's how our system works. Yes, they disagreed with the President. But there was no coup d'etat. We are not now ruled by a military junta. They went back to the drawing board and figured out how to implement the POLITICAL direction they were given by the Commander-in-Chief.

I hope you are all proud of how this process works. Again, you might not like the political objective chosen by the President, but the process is a damn sight better than anything else in the world.